What replacement iMac?

rob-nikon

rob-nikon

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I currently have a late 2012 21 inch iMac that I’ve been using since 2013. It’s still working but software seems to need a bit more nowadays, especially Lightroom CC. With this in mind what would I be looking at as a replacement? I know I need more RAM and it’s still use upgradeable on the 27 inch iMacs so I would likely look at one of those. The bigger screen would be a nice upgrade too. For hard drive I know that are nearly impossible to change so I would need to get one with the right one already fitted. What would be the better bet- Fusion drive or SSD? I have an external thunderbolt drive (480Mbps) for RAWS and the LR catalogue along with a raid1 3TBx2 drive for onsite backups so storage capacity isn’t a big concern.

The question is what kind of spec would be needed for photography related use (LR CC is what I currently use for processing). How much would we be talking? I would potentially consider used as well as new. Currently I’m getting my head around how much an upgrade would be and what sod would be needed to get around 5-7 years life.
 
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Hi rob , I have a 2018 27’ 5k iMac and I wouldn’t recommend getting one without a proper ssd. I would also recommend just getting the minimum amount of ram and then expanding this yourself by 32GB. Try and get the most for your budget in the ssd and cpu dept. If you aren’t interested in anything gaming then then the gpu probably isn't worth upgrading. I still find lightroom slow and I’ve seen serious high spec iMac Pro system owners complaining it’s still slow and they have spent the best part of £10k!
 
Tkenny said:
Hi rob , I have a 2018 27’ 5k iMac and I wouldn’t recommend getting one without a proper ssd. I would also recommend just getting the minimum amount of ram and then expanding this yourself by 32GB. Try and get the most for your budget in the ssd and cpu dept. If you aren’t interested in anything gaming then then the gpu probably isn't worth upgrading. I still find lightroom slow and I’ve seen serious high spec iMac Pro system owners complaining it’s still slow and they have spent the best part of £10k!
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Thanks for the reply. I’m getting the feel a SSD is a must especially for future proofing as much as you can but also to help sell on in the future. Fusion drives sound ok but SSD does seem the better option. User upgradeable RAM is the reason I’m thinking of going with a 27 inch. It’s definitely the way to go as I could add some then add more in the future.

As upgrading sounds like it’s going to be costly I’m going to try booting via an external SSD as a stop gap.
 
I would,give the ssd a try as you can always use it should you get a new imac Down the line. You can actually use two usb externals in raid as,well.
 
I have a iMac with a 2TB fusion drive (so it has the larger SSD) and MBP with SSD and don’t notice a difference in the real world.

A nice large SSD would be lovely but personally I wouldn’t see it as the be all and spend my budget on one at the cost of other things.
 
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I thought the same as you but when you see the performance of the new nvme ssd in the iMac Pro it would change your mind. Here is a Link to a good article on the difference in the speed of nvme as opposed to the fusion drive, almost three times the performance in some examples.
 
They use Apple proprietary blade ssd but you can use an nvme with an adaptor. These aren’t like the ssd 2.5” drives. The apple blade ssd are based on nvme and the port depending on the iMac will either be 2 or 4 lane. Note there is a big difference in the 21 and 27’ iMac models. It’s a lot of work to fit after the iMac has been purchased which is way I recommended the apple equipped one.
 
Thanks for the replies. I decided to give the external SSD option a try as I had nothing to lose. I’m very impressed with the results, it’s like a different computer.

I’ve done some time trials:

Start up to log in was 90 secs now 30 secs
Log in to CC ready was 120 secs now 40 secs

So 3 mins 30 secs down to 1 min 10 secs.

Lightroom CC start up- was 35 secs now 15 secs.


Lightroom seems to be more responsive from a quick test edit I’ve just done. I will try a bit more editing soon to give it more of a workout.

I used this article as the idea. I also used the same external portable Samsung T5 SSD too. If you have an older iMac running on 5400rpm hard drives it’s definitely worth trying. The portable SSD was £60. You could get that cheaper if you went with a 2.5 inch SSD and external usb3 caddy.

https://fstoppers.com/hacks/speed-your-older-imac-booting-external-solid-state-drive-356892

I think I will be looking to upgrade in a couple of years but booting from the external SSD should tide me over in the short term.
 
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JonathanRyan said:
Hmm, I have the late 2012 and it's working absolutely fine. I mostly shoot with a D800 which has massive files and have the fusion drive.

I did get a top end one second hand though. Maybe look at the very best 2- 3 year old one you can get rather than cutting corers on a new one.
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Mine is currently one of the more basic models. It has a standard 5400 rpm hard drive rather than a fusion drive so is that bit slower. It works well considering it’s 7 years old and running the latest OS (Mojave) but it could do with a speed boost. Running off an external SSD seems to help so that will give it a bit more life.

You are right a slightly older model with a better spec and SSD will be the right way to go. A 2017 or 2018 model will be likely what I will be on the lookout for. They changed fusion drives a few years ago, the 1TB drive only gets a 32GB SSD part compared to older fusion drives that had 128GB. The 2TB and 3TB fusion drives still get a 128GB SSD part.
 
GreenNinja67 said:
I'm currently using an iMac late 2012 too and can't say I notice it's too slow for what I use it for.
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Now I’m booting off an external SSD it’s not slow in any way now :) Start up now flys and Lightroom doesn’t seem to get the whirly wheel any longer.

Mine is one of the basic spec with an internal 5400rpm standard hard drive. If it had a fusion drive or SSD I probably wouldn’t say it was slow in the first place. It was slow to start up and operate Lightroom.

TBH it’s 7 years old this year and running the latest OS. I find that pretty amazing as I haven’t done any maintenance and it’s still able to run the latest OS. My previous PCs never lasted me more than 3 years but that was probably more my fault because I usually spent around half of what I spent this this iMac, never did any maintenance and put a load of rubbish software downloads on them (this isn’t a dig at PC’s as the whole mac vs PCs thing is boring and been done to death on here already).

If anyone else is running of a 5400rpm hard drive I would probably recommend booting via an external SSD route. I wasn’t expecting there to be a speed increase that I could actually see!
 
I still have an iMac from 2009 which I opened up to change HD to SSD a few years ago. It’s mostly fine but is slow for video editing and sometimes rendering edits in LR. Also it’s too old for the current OS. At the start of the year I got a new Mac mini for the extra speed.
 
Tkenny said:
Hi rob , I have a 2018 27’ 5k iMac and I wouldn’t recommend getting one without a proper ssd. I would also recommend just getting the minimum amount of ram and then expanding this yourself by 32GB. Try and get the most for your budget in the ssd and cpu dept. If you aren’t interested in anything gaming then then the gpu probably isn't worth upgrading. I still find lightroom slow and I’ve seen serious high spec iMac Pro system owners complaining it’s still slow and they have spent the best part of £10k!
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Lightroom is just poorly optimised though and can ‘struggle’ even on a high spec computer.
 
newbie1 said:
I still have an iMac from 2009 which I opened up to change HD to SSD a few years ago. It’s mostly fine but is slow for video editing and sometimes rendering edits in LR. Also it’s too old for the current OS. At the start of the year I got a new Mac mini for the extra speed.
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I’m expecting the latest OS to be the last one compatible with the 2012 model as it’s now the last model on the list. i wouldnt mine open up my iMac but it’s the first model they changed to adhesive tape rather than the previous magnet method. I’m a little apprehensive about doing so and damaging the screen.
 
100% agreed, I’ve seen computers costing £1000’s with performance issues. Lightroom needs a rewrite from the ground up.
 
rob-nikon said:
I’m expecting the latest OS to be the last one compatible with the 2012 model as it’s now the last model on the list. i wouldnt mine open up my iMac but it’s the first model they changed to adhesive tape rather than the previous magnet method. I’m a little apprehensive about doing so and damaging the screen.
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FWIW I have just replaced the 1 TB HD in my late 2012 27" with a 2 TB SSD.
I was a bit apprehensive about it and watched the video about 5 times but it was actually pretty straight forward. I just took my time and made sure I had everything beforehand. I had previously upped the RAM but without much noticeable improvement.
Belt and braces I used an anti static mat and strap. The process and in particular the screen removal was easier than I'd expected. As well as the kit, hard drive and adapter frame I also bought an enclosure to be able to reinstall from my old HD. In the end this didn't work - it appeared to but came up with APFS inverter failed to invert the volume. But I had also done a Time Machine backup to an external HD and reinstalled from that instead.
The only hardware issue with the install was that I wasn't entirely happy with the fit of the HD in the adapter frame - a cheapy from Amazon. When the HD was pushed flush with the plug the fixing holes were slightly misaligned. For the screws to fit it had to be pulled out slightly. I wasn't happy with that so elongated the hole with a swiss file.
I tested rebooting the machine before removing the backing on the tape and sticking the screen down.
Also when sticking the screen I got my wife to help hold the bottom edges in place and apply pressure to the bottom of the body so the fit was well aligned.

LR and PS are now much swifter and I'm v happy. At around 270 for everything it's not the cheapest upgrade if you're concerned about messing it up but it is a lot cheaper than a new mac.
 
I'm still using a 2010 iMac, that I haven't upgraded yet, as I can never decide what I want, although it is likely to be another iMac because the cost of a Mac Mini doesn't leave that much budget for a decent 4K screen to match the one in the iMac.
 
I am currently looking at iMacs and deciding on either the 2015 or 2017 model with SSD. The main applications I am looking to run are Lightroom, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, maybe the odd bit of Handbrake. I have plenty of external storage as I have got a 6tb Synology NAS & subscribe to 1tb of Creative Cloud. I could be wrong but I have heard that Apple have a 7yr cutoff for software support. I am pretty much tied into the Apple Ecosystem as I love the way their devices interact with each other and the Retina screens are stunning, so is a no brainier for me to get one of the older models.
 
Jwar1976 said:
I could be wrong but I have heard that Apple have a 7yr cutoff for software support.
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My MBPR is an early 2013 model running the latest OS 10.15.6. Unless you mean support for discontinued programs like Aperture... it seems to me that there is no continuing support for those programs.
 
sk66 said:
My MBPR is an early 2013 model running the latest OS 10.15.6. Unless you mean support for discontinued programs like Aperture... it seems to me that there is no continuing support for those programs.
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That is really useful to know as had read somewhere that some features of the newer OS are not supported by older Macs and that Apple generally stop supporting Mac systems that are over 7yrs old. But looks like I am incorrect.
 
I have added a shot of the spec of my recent purchase to replace a failing 2011 i7 iMac. I regret not buying something higher end as this does not appear to be any improvement over the 2011 apart from I am able to update to the more recent OSX versions - and even that cost with the need to replace 32bit apps. Now to be fair I really didn't have a choice and I knew I was on borrowed time with the 2011 - but had hoped for a little more perceived improvements.
 

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Tulipone said:
I have added a shot of the spec of my recent purchase to replace a failing 2011 i7 iMac. I regret not buying something higher end as this does not appear to be any improvement over the 2011 apart from I am able to update to the more recent OSX versions - and even that cost with the need to replace 32bit apps. Now to be fair I really didn't have a choice and I knew I was on borrowed time with the 2011 - but had hoped for a little more perceived improvements.
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Wow by rights that should be a powerhouse, but extremely unfortunate that you are not noticing much difference, with the applications you use. Maybe it is intense video editing ‘ encoding where you would notice the difference. I know on Windows machines, most apps run similar should it be for example a 4th Gen i7 or a 6th Gen i7. I have looked at a couple of videos on YouTube and some stuff in Final Cut Pro is quite a bit faster on newer machines than the older ones.

Thank you for the reply tho.
 
Tulipone said:
I have added a shot of the spec of my recent purchase to replace a failing 2011 i7 iMac. I regret not buying something higher end as this does not appear to be any improvement over the 2011 apart from I am able to update to the more recent OSX versions - and even that cost with the need to replace 32bit apps. Now to be fair I really didn't have a choice and I knew I was on borrowed time with the 2011 - but had hoped for a little more perceived improvements.
Click to expand...
Hard disk, fusion drive or SSD? If it doesn't kill your old machine then there's something wrong.
 
Jwar1976 said:
Wow by rights that should be a powerhouse, but extremely unfortunate that you are not noticing much difference, with the applications you use. Maybe it is intense video editing ‘ encoding where you would notice the difference. I know on Windows machines, most apps run similar should it be for example a 4th Gen i7 or a 6th Gen i7. I have looked at a couple of videos on YouTube and some stuff in Final Cut Pro is quite a bit faster on newer machines than the older ones.

Thank you for the reply tho.
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I do not edit video so no idea how that is handled.

ancient_mariner said:
Hard disk, fusion drive or SSD? If it doesn't kill your old machine then there's something wrong.
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After chatting with an Apple specialist I opted for fusion. I knew it was a mistake when I pushed the go button. I suspect that it is my unreal expectation that there would be an appreciable difference rather than little difference.
 
Tulipone said:
After chatting with an Apple specialist I opted for fusion. I knew it was a mistake when I pushed the go button. I suspect that it is my unreal expectation that there would be an appreciable difference rather than little difference.
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Probably best fix is an M2 drive in a thunderbolt caddy and make that your boot/program/working file drive. Use the fusion for storage.
 
I don't regularly use a Mac now, and just going from what others report. I'd choose a fast 500gb nvme drive and try reading around for caddy recommendations. There's bound to be a tutorial or 10 on YouTube.
 
Tulipone said:
After chatting with an Apple specialist I opted for fusion. I knew it was a mistake when I pushed the go button. I suspect that it is my unreal expectation that there would be an appreciable difference rather than little difference.
Click to expand...

There is something wrong with that machine. Since this thread started, I've sold my iMac - but my 2012 machine with fusion drive was still very capable with D800 raws.

The fusion drives bench test as fast as SSDs for small transfers and faster than most HDDs for larger stuff. They work by predicting what you need access to and moving it to the very fast partition ahead of time. Unless you are using massive files and swapping from file to file then they are really quick. They do get slow when they fill up as there isn't space to manage the drive efficiently. In typical Apple style the machine never mentions this - it just carries on slowing down....

What does Blackmagic say about your drive?

IMO the price Apple charge for SSDs is flat out immoral and is one of the reasons I moved to PC. I did find that on a 2012 iMac and external SSD worked *much* faster than a fusion for a lot less money than an internal SSD. The 2019 should be even quicker due to improvements in USB. Try this - or you can pay more for the "pro" version. I've found the throughput to be close to manufacturers quoted speeds and in the real world I doubt many external NVMEs will beat it.
 
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